QB woes illustrate UVa slide

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Published: October 3, 2008

Kevin Ogletree was sitting around chewing the fat with a bunch of sportswriters the other day when he recollected all of the Virginia quarterbacks that had thrown him a pass during his career.

Let’s see — Marques Hagans, yes. Christian Olsen, Kevin McCabe, check. Jameel Sewell, Peter Lalich, Marc Verica, double check. That’s six — count ‘em, six — quarterbacks.

“I think Shawn Moore threw me one back in the day,” Ogletree chuckled.

Oh, by the way, Ogletree is a junior, and no, he was only kidding about the Shawn Moore thing.

No continuity

However, this helps explain part of the dilemma the Cavaliers have experienced over the past few seasons. It’s difficult to remain consistent when there’s a new triggerman every time you turn around.

Coach Al Groh thought he had it figured out when he threw Sewell into the fire in early 2006, knowing that Sewell wasn’t ready, but there weren’t any other options. Sewell remained the starter all the rest of that season and for 2007 before running into academic issues that caused him to sit out the 2008 season.

By the way, Sewell is only ineligible at Virginia. He is eligible by NCAA standards and would be eligible at just about any other school in the universe, other than his own.

Enter Pete Lalich, a golden arm with some off-the-field shortcomings. Everything for this season was set up to take advantage of his arm. Why else did Groh send coaches to Texas Tech and BYU in the offseason?

When Lalich was booted from the program by athletic director Craig Littlepage, Groh found himself throwing Verica into the same fire as Sewell in ’06.

Crunch time for Cavs

Which brings us to tonight’s game against Maryland, the first in a three-game homestand. Verica now has two games under his belt, and there’s a lot riding on him keeping his poise under pressure.

Essentially, Verica doesn’t have to win the game for the Cavaliers. He just can’t lose it.

Last week’s loss at Duke proved to be an invaluable lesson in the maturation process of the redshirt sophomore from Pennsylvania. When he stopped taking what the defense gave him, he got into a world of trouble, began forcing things and threw four interceptions.

Tonight’s game against Ralph Friedgen’s Terps is a line in the sand for Virginia. The Cavaliers need to stop the bleeding and what better time than against a nationally ranked opponent from across the Potomac?

The last two meetings between the two border rivals has supplied about as much drama as any fan could wish for, going down to the wire. Maryland won here in ’06, Virginia won there in ’07.

Certainly, the Terps will try to do what they always try to do, manhandle the Cavs with physical play. That’s what Virginia has to answer. Maryland is essentially coming to Scott Stadium expecting to beat Virginia up with smash-mouth football.

So far, the Cavaliers haven’t shown that they can execute the two most basic concepts of the game: run the football and stop the run. Until they do, they are going to struggle to win.

That’s Maryland’s bread and butter and if the Cavaliers can’t respond, then they are in for a long night.

Not that the Terps are three yards and a cloud of dust. Those kinds of teams don’t exist any longer. But Friedgen’s team will attempt to establish the run and if they can move the ball that way, that’s the easiest way to win.

Sure, Chris Turner will throw some passes and Darrius Heyward-Bey will scare Virginia to death with his blinding speed.

But tonight is going to be about tailback Da’Rel Scott trying to leave cleat marks on the chests of Virginia’s defenders.

The question is, can Virginia’s offense return the favor? Just when is it that this young, inexperienced offensive line is going to finally get it? We’re nearly at the halfway point of the season, and these guys still haven’t figured out how to run block?

What good is Groh’s collection of running backs if there’s nowhere for them to run?

Memo to the offensive line: Lalich isn’t around to bail you out any longer. You might want to find another option.

Getting back to Verica, he’s going to have to play solid football tonight. Low turnovers, smart decisions, lots of guts.

“People have to remember, the Duke game was only the second [college] game he’s ever played in,” said Ogletree. “I’ve had to deal with a lot of quarterbacks and you see the process of the quarterback trying to mature. You’re not going to see a dramatic change [in Verica], but as long as we’re getting better at something a little at a time, well, that’s good.”

Incidentally, the only quarterback who has played during that span that Ogletree hasn’t caught a pass from is current backup Scott Deke, a fifth-year senior.

“Deke, I might see him again,” Ogletree said.